Local couple followed by House Hunters

Have you ever heard of the TV show

“House Hunters?”

The question was posed simply enough to

Reed and Kelli Trontel last fall while looking for a home in

Whitefish.

Had they heard of it? Yes, they had. It

was Reed’s favorite.

“It was my default show,” Reed said. “I

always watch it.”

“He’s so into it,” Kelli added.

The couple moved here from Nashville

last year to open the Red Caboose Frozen Yogurt + Coffee on Central

Avenue. They were living with Reed’s parents while working to

remodel the Red Caboose when they began looking for a home.

Their real estate agent Rhonda Kohl of

Trails West Real Estate suggested they might be candidates for the

show. She had received an email from the show’s producers looking

for a couple with a great story.

They were selected and appear on the

show Aug. 1. John and Linda Kauffman were also featured on the

program recently.

The Trontels had little concern about

selecting a home while on TV. They both previously worked in the

country music business in Nashville.

“With our backgrounds in the music

industry, being around cameras didn’t bother us,” Kelli said.

“Being hooked up to a mic for hours was the most awkward part.

There’s always a guy with headphones on hearing everything.”

A camera crew followed them during

November 2010 while they looked at houses and then again in

February once they had moved into their new home.

Reed said as the filming progressed

they began to feel more comfortable even though some interview

segments stretched to more than an hour.

“Being on a reality TV show and having

cameras follow you all the time, that would be harder,” he

said.

The couple was busy during the filming

as they converted the Red Caboose from diner to a yogurt and coffee

shop.

“It was a fun experience,” Kelli said.

“We were living with my in-laws and remodeling the business and

then we decided ‘oh, yeah we’ll do a TV show.’”

However, as they learned even more

about the show it became apparent that it could help them promote

the Red Caboose and Whitefish. The shop promotes itself heavily

through social media, but the show was a new opportunity.

“I didn’t realize how popular it was,”

Reed said. “It’s been on HGTV for 10 years and it’s the No. 1 show.

They play reruns for four years.”

The couple has watched a DVD of the

show and says it portrays Whitefish in a positive light. Several

shots are of Central Avenue and the business district.

“It’s good for tourism and Whitefish,”

Reed said. “It shows downtown. A lot of it was filmed inside

Montana Coffee Traders because the Red Caboose wasn’t ready.”

It was Reed’s connection to the

Flathead Valley — he grew up in Kalispell before moving to

Nashville — and their dream to open their own store that led them

to Whitefish.

“When we first started looking at the

Red Caboose it was still attached to Casey’s,” Kelli said.

When the businesses separated, the

Trontels knew they could achieve that dream. Their decision to open

a self-service yogurt and coffee shop came from their own life.

“Kelli liked frozen yogurt,” Reed said.

“When she would get frozen yogurt I would go across the street to

get coffee.”

The goal was to create a place that fit

creatively with Whitefish and invited people to hangout into the

evenings. Their vision was for a place that is “modern, rustic,

industrial, cozy and has whimsy.”

“We created a space that we truly

desired and liked hanging out in,” Kelli said. “This was our

opportunity to fill a need in the community to create a place to

hang out in outside of a bar.”

The camera crew returned during Winter

Carnival to get more shots of Whitefish, their new home and the

completed Red Caboose.

Of the entire process, the couple says

that was the most stressful.

“We were doing two big projects at the

same time,” Kelli said. “We definitely did more (on the house) than

if the camera wasn’t coming.”

“We were frantically cleaning and

hanging pictures,” Reed added.

The camera crew visited the Red Caboose

the first time the yogurt machines were turned on. Reed said that’s

when he felt some pressure.

“They’re here to film us having yogurt

and the machines weren’t working,” he said. “They kept shutting

off.”

During the show, the Trontels look to

balance their different tastes in one home. They choose between an

out-of-town home, a modern downtown condo and a Montana-style home

during the 23-minute episode.

To find out which home they pick, watch

“House Hunters” at 5 a.m. or 6 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 1.